


Love is Complicated, Love is Strange

by HighlyOpinionatedNerd



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Bunny's pov, Friends to Lovers, Hope you like it!, I couldn't think of anything good, I'm working at getting better at it, M/M, Post-Canon, don't ask me about that title, don't judge my smut writing I know it's terrible, rated for one small nsfw part towards the end, the rest is set after movie 2, the very first part picks up at the end of s2, uhhh what else is there to say
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 17:38:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12893277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyOpinionatedNerd/pseuds/HighlyOpinionatedNerd
Summary: Barnaby struggles to define his relationship to Kotetsu. Are they partners? Friends? Or something else entirely?





	Love is Complicated, Love is Strange

When you spend long enough living only for one thing, one specific reason, eventually you forget what life is like without it. At least, that’s the way Barnaby felt after the events surrounding Maverick’s death.

It was a horrible feeling. He was lost. He knew he wasn’t alone, knew he had people to rely on, that cared about him, but somehow that knowledge didn’t help him at all. He felt that none of them could possibly understand what he was going through. He was so, so lost.

When you are suddenly confronted with the loss of your reason for living, the first thing you do is go. Just go, get away from everyone and everything familiar, force yourself to try to think new thoughts. And Barnaby had a pretty good excuse- someone had to clean out Maverick’s vacation house after all, and he made sure that it was him.

Once you go, once you get away and you start trying to put the pieces of your life back together, you often find gaps. Things missing, things from your old life that you either can’t get back or you don’t want back. And you fill those gaps with whatever is at hand.

For Barnaby, it was a lot of reading. And exercising. Practicing making fried rice. Trying to teach himself to play guitar. More travelling, more new memories and experiences and less panicking all the time.

It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t a slow process. But he was healing. And every time he felt guilty for not going back to the city, he reminded himself that he couldn’t very well do his job as a hero if he wasn’t whole.

But before he knew it, a whole year had passed. It hadn’t seemed like that long to him.

He called Lloyds, he made plans to return to Stern Bild. A year was a long time. He’d never meant to stay away that long. It was time he went back home.

And so he did.

 

This wasn’t the first time Barnaby had woken up on the floor of his apartment after a night of serious drinking. It was, however, the first time he’d woken up so _close_ to Kotetsu. 

When Barnaby opened his eyes, Kotetsu’s face was mere inches from his own, cheek pressed into the carpet, lips parted slightly. He was clearly still dead asleep. It was a weird sight to wake up to, though.

Barnaby’s head hurt, and he felt nauseous at the slightest movement. So he stayed where he was, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to shut out the light coming through the window behind him. It must have been midmorning at least- Barnaby wondered exactly how much they had drunk last night. Truthfully, he didn’t remember very much of it.

He lay there for a few minutes, focusing on breathing evenly. It had been a while since he’d indulged in this kind of thing. He wondered why he didn’t feel as guilty as he usually did.

Without warning, the bracelet on his wrist lit up and chimed for his attention. It sounded louder than normal, and at least twice as jarring. He winced.

“Mmragh,” Kotetsu complained, shifting position, blinking in the light. “Wha’s happenin’?”

Groggily, Barnaby sat up and pressed a button. “What is it, Agnes-san?”

“There’s a robbery in progress downtown,” Agnes’ voice answered, sounding tinny and far away through the bracelet’s tiny speakers, but no less demanding. “I want you two on the scene five minutes ago!”

“Ok, ok, we’re on our way,” Barnaby assured her. His voice came out sounding a little rough, which probably didn’t help his case, but Agnes seemed satisfied nevertheless.

“Come on, Kotetsu-san.” Barnaby put a hand on the floor and pushed himself up, swaying a little before finding his balance. “Ugh...come on, we have to go out. We have to do our jobs.”

Kotetsu groaned. “Right now?”

“Yeah, right now.” Barnaby leaned down and grabbed Kotetsu’s arm, tugging him up into a sitting position. “We have to go stop a robbery. We’re already late, I think.”

“Alright, I’m coming, I’m coming! You don’t have to keep pulling on me.”

Barnaby let go and turned around, looking for his glasses. Thankfully, it seemed that he had had the presence of mind last night to put them on the table, safely out of the way.

“I’m missing a shoe,” Kotetsu said from behind him. “Bunny, do you see my other shoe?”

“Did you check in the kitchen?”

“No...oh wait, here it is. I got it. Blech, I feel terrible. We can’t have coffee before we leave, at least?”

“We’re already late,” Barnaby reminded him, hastily tugging on his jacket and reaching into his pocket for the bike keys. “We can grab something after we stop this robbery.”

“Ugh, fine. You got everything?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Yeah, think so. Alright, let’s go stop some bad guys.”

They hastened out of Barnaby’s apartment, and Kotetsu closed the door behind them.

 

Kotetsu had changed in the time Barnaby had been away. Not much, nothing immediately obvious to an outside observer. But Barnaby could see it.

It wasn’t a bad change. In fact, he was grateful for it. Because if he had changed, and Kotetsu had stayed the same, they probably wouldn’t have been able to work together the way they had before, at the height of their partnership.

And Barnaby wanted to be partners with Kotetsu. He had tired working solo, and he’d tried working with a different partner, but it had felt wrong. He and Kotetsu understood each other, complimented each other. Needed each other.

It felt weird to admit that, even to himself. It had never been his intention to rely on someone as much as he relied on his partner. But he wasn’t ashamed. Just...thankful. To have what he needed. To have Kotetsu by his side every day.

 

After the robbery, there was a car chase. After the car chase, there was a traffic accident on a precarious bridge. After the accident, someone spotted Lunatic, and they had to drop everything and run after him. It was a long day for the heroes.

“We’ll have to reschedule that interview we were supposed to go to this afternoon,” Barnaby said, wearily pulling off his helmet.

“It’s like all the criminals in the city have been conspiring to make my headache worse,” Kotetsu complained, tossing pieces of his suit carelessly away from himself and flopping down on the couch in Saito’s giant hero-mobile. “Seriously, what a coincidence for this all to happen today.”

“I’m sure it was just a coincidence, Kotetsu-san.”

“Well, doesn’t make me feel any better about it.” Kotetsu groaned, slapping a hand to his forehead. “Crap, I think I forgot to buy groceries yesterday. I don’t have any food at home.”

Barnaby finished carefully removing the last pieces of his suit and joined Kotetsu on the couch. “That’s why I keep telling you to get your shopping done before you run out of food completely. This has happened, what, twice already this month?”

“Ah, shut up. Hey, do you want to grab dinner with me somewhere tonight?”

“I have food back at my-”

“Yeah, and normally I wouldn’t hesitate to steal some from you, but I feel like eating out. Come on Bunny-chan- don’t you think we’ve earned it?”

“...Ok. Fine.”

“Great! Let’s go to that one place we went with Nathan and Antonio that one time, they had really good pasta.”

 

Being partners with Kotetsu was one thing. There was a time when he would have been perfectly content with that. But now, after everything they’d been through together, their relationship went deeper than that, and Barnaby didn’t really know how to classify it.

They were more than just coworkers. They were way more than that. ‘Friends’ didn’t seem like a comprehensive enough word for whatever the two of them were, but it Barnaby supposed it was pretty close.

Barnaby was very happy being friends with Kotetsu, and doing friend things like eating together or getting drunk together. But there were times when he caught himself wondering what it would be like if they were even more than friends. If they kept going further and further, where that might take them. Those were very dangerous thoughts, though, and he tried very very hard to ignore them.

They were getting harder and harder to ignore, though.

 

“I don’t understand this stupid Lunatic guy,” Kotetsu said, angrily twirling his fork around in his pasta. “What’s his deal, anyway? One minute he’s helping us, the next he’s trying to blow up an office building…”

“I don’t recall him ever helping us.”

“Oh, it happened whenever you all were brainwashed. I’m sure I told you about it; he helped me out when everybody who thought I was a murderer was chasing me around.”

“Ah, now that you mention it, I do remember hearing about that.” Barnaby sighed and took a sip of his drink. It was water. He wasn’t about to get drunk two nights in a row. “I don’t understand his motivations either. Personally I doubt he’s completely mentally stable.”

Kotetsu made a growly noise in the back of his throat and chewed a bite of his food. He was doing that thing he always did when he was especially irritated, tapping out patterns on his leg with his finger tips.

“Someone with convictions that strong should never have that much power,” he muttered once he’d swallowed. “And someone with that much power should never be that clever.”

“We’re doing all we can to catch him, Kotetsu-san. We stopped him from completely destroying that office building earlier, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, but who’s to say we’ll be able to stop him the next time, or the next time?” He sighed. “If I still had all my powers, maybe we-”

“Kotetsu-san, stop. Thinking like that isn’t going to get you anywhere. We’re doing all we can, and that’s what matters, right?”

“...Yeah. You’re right. Sorry, Bunny.”

They lapsed into silence. Kotetsu sighed again and picked at his food some more. He didn’t look angry anymore, just sort of mournful. And tired, very tired. Barnaby hated seeing him like this.

He cleared his throat and pushed his mostly-empty plate away from him. “So, Kotetsu-san, how’s Kaede these days? Is she controlling her powers alright?”

Kotetsu’s face instantly brightened. “Kaede? Oh, yeah! She’s always been a fast learner, Kaede has. I couldn’t be prouder of her!” He beamed.

Barnaby realized he had said that just to see Kotetsu smile. Just to watch the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, how he cocked his head just a bit to the side, how his cheeks flushed a little the same way they always did whenever he talked about his daughter.

God damn it. How was he supposed to ignore all these dangerous thoughts he kept having when they snuck up on him like this.

He smiled anyway, in spite of himself, sitting there listening to Kotetsu gush about Kaede while the sky slowly darkened outside the window.

 

A few days went by and not much changed. No one heard or discovered anything about Lunatic’s identity or his whereabouts. The heroes’ work went on as usual.

But Barnaby’s dangerous thoughts kept getting worse. They were coming more and more frequently now, and they were starting to affect him pretty severely.

When they went out on patrol together, he spent more time wondering if Kotetsu was safe than doing any crime fighting of his own. When they were apart, all he thought about was the next time they’d see each other. Once, he even caught himself staring at Kotetsu in the middle of a workout. 

Eventually, Barnaby was forced to admit that there was more than just simple curiosity at work here. This was real attraction, real, serious desire. 

The thought was scary. He was terrified that Kotetsu would find out, and their partnership would end along with their friendship. And Barnaby desperately wanted to keep being friends.

So he did his best to push those feelings down, not to let them show. But they always came back, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could ignore them.

 

“Kotetsu-san, do you have any chopsticks?”

“In the drawer on the right.”

“Ok, found ‘em.”

They were in Kotetsu’s apartment this time. Kotetsu had found out that Barnaby had never seen any of the old documentaries about Mr. Legend, and had insisted on showing them to him. Barnaby had agreed, on the condition that Kotetsu would then watch Barnaby’s favorite opera. Before they knew it it had turned into an impromptu movie marathon, and suddenly it was past ten o’clock.

They’d ordered Chinese takeout halfway through an action movie that neither of them had ever seen before, but that Kotetsu had decided looked interesting. It was actually pretty interesting, too, even if the special effects were downright awful.

“Here you go,” Barnaby said, handing Kotetsu a pair of chopsticks and sitting back down on the couch.

“Thanks. Hey Bunny, it’s getting pretty late…do you wanna stay here tonight? I think I still have a folding cot around here somewhere.”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, Kotetsu-san. I can drive myself back.”

“Are you sure?”

“What’s to be unsure about?”

Kotetsu shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just… lately you’ve been acting kinda, kinda distracted, I guess.”

“Distracted.” Barnaby raised an eyebrow, suddenly desperately afraid that he hadn’t concealed his conflicted feelings for Kotetsu as well as he thought he had. “And what, you don’t want me driving while I’m supposedly distracted?”

“No, that’s not- I didn’t mean- oh, man.” Kotetsu shifted on the couch so he could look Barnaby directly in the eye. “I don’t really want you being alone. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but if it’s the nightmares again, or something like that, I just...I wanted to help,” he finished somewhat meekly.

Barnaby was stunned speechless. He hadn’t expected that. And he hadn’t expected how much the thought of Kotetsu worrying over him having nightmares would make his heart _ache_ , suddenly, as if someone were squeezing it in their fist.

“It’s not the nightmares,” he muttered, not realizing until after he said it that it was as good as admitting that there really was something on his mind. “Excuse me.” Hastily he grabbed one of the empty takeout boxes and jumped up from the couch.

“Oh come on Bunny, don’t be like that,” Kotetsu said, hurriedly following Barnaby towards the kitchen. “I didn’t mean to sound like I think you can’t deal with it on your own, but you shouldn’t have to. You can tell me, honest.”

“It’s nothing.” Barnaby threw away the trash he’d brought with him, then busied himself at the sink, washing his hands, keeping his head down. This was not a good situation he found himself in.

“You’re not acting like it’s nothing. If it was nothing, you wouldn’t be trying to hide it from me.”

“Really, Kotetsu-san, I’m fine.” Still keeping his eyes averted, Barnaby tried to duck out of the kitchen.

“Jeez, Barnaby, would you cut that out already!”

In the blink of an eye, Kotetsu had crossed the distance between them and was standing right in front of Barnaby. He put his hand against the wall near Barnaby’s shoulder, effectively blocking any escape attempt.

Barnaby blinked in surprise. Kotetsu had even used his real name, which he only did when he was being deadly serious. “I-I said it’s noth-”

“We’re supposed to be partners,” Kotetsu cut him off quietly. “I’m worried about you. I can’t help you with whatever it is if you don’t tell me about it. So tell me.”

Barnaby swallowed, trying to keep his hands from shaking. “It’s not important. It’s not something you need to worry ab-”

“Bunny, stop. I don’t _care_ about that, ok? Whatever it is, just, just tell me the truth. Please.”

“I...I want you, Kotetsu-san.”

There was a moment of silence as both of them processed what Barnaby had just said.

“Uh,” Kotetsu said, his face flushing a little. “What?”

Barnaby could feel the heat rising in his own face, could hear the hammering of his heart in his ears. That hadn’t been the truth he’d meant to tell, but with Kotetsu so close to him, it was the only truth that mattered, the only thing he could think about.

“I s-said, I said I want you. I want you so badly,” he said, the words pouring out of his mouth against both his will and better judgement, growing stronger and stronger. “Not, not just your body, although _shit_ do I want that. I want your smile, and your laugh, and your stupid jokes, and your fucking beautiful eyes on me, only me, all the time. I want all the things that make you _you_ , Kotetsu-san. I’ve wanted you for so, so long, and I’ve wanted to tell you, but-”

“ _That’s_ what you’ve been so worked up about recently?” Kotetsu laughed incredulously. “Oh, Bunny...”

“I’m sorry.” Barnaby was trying not to cry now. Just what he needed, to cry in front of the man he had just admitted to having a crush on.

Kotetsu shook his head and leaned a little closer. “Don’t be,” he whispered, and pulled Barnaby down for a kiss.

For a moment, Barnaby’s brain couldn’t seem to accept that it was really happening. But then he gave up on thinking and kissed Kotetsu back, closing his eyes and leaning into it.

Barnaby wasn’t as experienced as Kotetsu with this kind of thing, a fact which he was pretty sure was immediately obvious to both of them. But he was happy to let Kotetsu take the lead, to take his time and figure out what to do with his hands and his stupidly clumsy tongue. 

So when Kotetsu grabbed a handful of his shirt and started pulling him backwards, he went willingly, almost tripping over his feet in his eagerness to comply.

They moved through the apartment carelessly, shedding clothing as they went, until they reached Kotetsu’s bedroom and fell over onto the bed together.

Somehow Barnaby ended up on top of Kotetsu, staring down at the older man beneath him. Kotetsu made for quite a sight, with light from a streetlight outside the window shining on his bare skin and his amber eyes heavy-lidded and hazy with desire.

“Kotetsu-san, can I…?”

“Yes.” It came out sounding kinda ragged, breathless. It was incredibly arousing. “Hold on a second…”

Kotetsu twisted around so that he could reach over and pull open the drawer in the bedside nightstand. After a moment of rummaging around, he pulled out a tube of lube and tossed it to Barnaby, who nearly fumbled the catch. His hands were trembling.

Willing himself to be calm, Barnaby slicked his fingers, took a deep breath, and put his hands between Kotetsu’s legs.

Kotetsu moaned when Barnaby pushed the first finger into him. A long, low sound in the back of his throat. It was _incredibly arousing._

By the time Barnaby was satisfied that Kotetsu was properly prepared, both of them were breathing hard, getting desperate. One of Kotetsu’s hands was fisted in the sheets, the other digging fingernails into Barnaby’s thigh.

Barnaby was still half-expecting some sign to stop, but it didn’t come. So he carefully positioned himself between Kotetsu’s thighs and pushed the head of his cock into Kotetsu’s entrance.

All the breath left Barnaby’s lungs in a sharp gasp; it felt better than he could ever have expected, knowing he was inside Kotetsu. It felt so, so good. And Kotetsu was arching his neck back, his fingernails still digging into Barnaby’s leg, and it was Barnaby who was making him moan like that...

Barnaby kept pushing until his entire erection was buried into Kotetsu. “Aah...Kotetsu-san, a-are you alright?”

Kotetsu nodded, his eyes silently reassuring Barnaby. “F-fuck me, Bunny,” he choked out. “Please.”

Barnaby pulled his hips back and then thrusted forward, harder than he’d meant to. But Kotetsu still didn’t tell him to stop, so he did it again, and again.

“Yes, fuck, yes, right there,” Kotetsu chanted, his eyes squeezed shut, his head still thrown back. Barnaby leaned forward and kissed the exposed skin of his neck, one hand splayed across Kotetsu’s chest for balance, and Kotetsu raised a hand and tangled his fingers in Barnaby’s long hair.

“Bunny, I-I’m, hah, I’m gonna come, Bunny…”

“Kotetsu-san…!”

Barnaby thrusted harder and faster, words failing him as he approached climax. There was nothing in the world but they two, Kotetsu’s chest heaving under his hand and his fingers in Barnaby’s hair.

Suddenly Kotetsu cried out, and his warm come was splashing across Barnaby’s chest. Barnaby came an instant later, ejaculating while still inside Kotetsu.

“Ah,” Barnaby said, breathing hard, realizing too late what had just happened, “sorry, Kotetsu-san!” He hurried to grab some tissues from the nightstand and begin cleaning up.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kotetsu mumbled. He looked a little worn out. The moment that Barnaby was done, he pulled him down beside him and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Stay here tonight,” he muttered, closing his eyes.

“Ok.” Barnaby closed his eyes too, snuggling closer to Kotetsu-san’s warmth, and for once drifted off to sleep almost instantly.

 

Barnaby woke up the next morning to warm sunlight streaming through the window and Kotetsu’s legs tangled up with his. Not that he had planned to go anywhere; he was content to lie there and watch Kotetsu’s sleeping face, thinking about how he still couldn’t quite believe that last night had actually happened. How he was the luckiest man in all of Stern Bild.

Kotetsu began to stir after a few minutes, finally opening his eyes and blinking blearily at Barnaby. Once he was awake enough to recognize him, he smiled.

“G’morning, Bunny.”

“Good morning, Kotetsu-san.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost eleven, I think. I’m amazed Agnes hasn’t called.”

Kotetsu chuckled, his just-woken-up voice a little lower and rougher than normal. “If she did, I think I would ignore her. It’s been a long time since I slept in.”

“Me too.”

“It’s nice. We should do it more often.”

“I’d like that.”

“We should spend some more nights together, too,” Kotetsu added playfully.

“You mean it?”

“Of course I do. I wouldn’t lie to you, Bunny. It was good.”

Barnaby smiled. He didn’t want to admit it, but he’d been worried. “Kotetsu-san, I- I love you.”

Kotetsu blinked at that, the sleepy look on his face quickly replaced with a different look, one equal parts shock and fear. “O-oh….oh.”

“I’m sorry,” Barnaby said instantly, propping himself up on his elbow, horrified. “I didn’t mean- I just thought- If you’re not ready, then-”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Kotetsu reassured him, taking Barnaby’s hand in his own. “It’s just been a while, that’s all. It’s been a long time. You just surprised me.”

“Are you sure?” Barnaby asked, still tensed and ready to give Kotetsu more space at the slightest sign.

“I’m sure, I’m sure. Come here,” he said, pulling on Barnaby’s hand.

Carefully Barnaby lay back down, allowing Kotetsu to wrap an arm around his waist again and pull him closer. “I’m sorry I surprised you,” he muttered, feeling his face burn with embarrassment.

“It’s ok,” Kotetsu murmured. “Don’t think anything of it. I love you too, Bunny.”

Barnaby smiled again. Hearing those words said out loud made him happier than anything else ever had.

“We should probably get up soon.”

“I guess we should.”

“...Do you want to stay here a little longer?”

“Absolutely.”

**Author's Note:**

> Barnaby knows how to be professional, knows how to look good in front of a camera, but he's actually really socially awkward and I love that about him. I think he would really struggle to put a label on his relationship with Kotetsu, even as he falls deeper and deeper in love with him every day. He's the type to overcomplicate things like that, whereas Kotetsu is the type to go with his gut rather than his head. That's part of why they compliment each other so well, in my opinion.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
